Article controlled rotary endorser



April15,1969 1 A. swzm E# AL y13,433,322l

ARTICLE 60111110111111111011111111ENDoRsER` F116@ oct. 24,1965 sheet L April 15, 1969 L. A. sMlTzER ET AL 3,438,323 ARTICLE CONTRLLED ROTARY ENDORSER Filed oct. 24, 1965 'sheet f3 of 2 0 i0 2O 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 |00 H0 IZGIQOMUIN |60 MILLISECONDS* /0/ /03 @oo noe/Mm. Ms/YCLE L+ #L r meCZLs wh/MMC? m #2f/@6 United States Patent O ARTICLE CONTROLLED RUTARY ENDORSER' Louis A. Smitzer, Chicago, Adolph J. Gawin, Skokie,

and Chester S. Rempala and Jerome C. Zis, Chicago,

Ill., assignors to Bell & Howell Company, Chicago, Ill.,

a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 504,454 Int. Cl. B41f 13/26 U.S. Cl. 101--233 2 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Document endorsing apparatus having a die roller mounted on the unsupported end of a cantilevered shaft which is continuously engaged with a rotative source through a friction clutch. Rotation of the shaft is controlled by solenoid operated abutment means energizable through document actuated time delay means which enables placement of the endorsement at any location along the document.

This invention relates generally to endorsers and more particularly to improvements in endorsers regarding a dle roller mounting arrangement and a die roller operating mechanism including means for selectively controlling the location on the documents or similar articles upon which the die roller acts in transferring indicia thereto.

While a number of different die rollers and mounting arrangements are known, a problem that has been frequently encountered in the use thereof has been the difficulty involved in replacing die rollers to change the indicia transferred thereby. The job may require special tooling and is often time consuming, thereby resulting in unnecessary ydown time of the machine and an unnecessary consumption of time and effort on the part of the operator.

In addition, known die roller operating mechanisms are generally unnecessarily complicated and without provision for selectively varying the location of the indicia on the faces of the documents, regardless of variations in the sizes of the documents.

The present invention involves `an improved endorser wherein not only is replacement of the die roller facilitated, but also the die roller operating mechanism is simplitied in construction, more dependable in operation and adapted to permit changes in location of the endorsement or other marking on the documents regardless of the sizes of the documents.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an endorser embodying improved means for mounting and replacing the die roller.

It is another object of the invention to reduce the machine down time and the time and yeffort required in replacing the die roller.

Still another object of the invention is to simplify and increase the dependability of the operating mechanism of the die roller.

Another object of the invention is to provide means affording selectivity in the location of the endorsement or other indicia on the document regardless of the size of the document.

Still another object of the invention is to provide means for acting upon an article moving along a given path of travel a given period of time after the article reaches a given point in the path of travel.

Many other features, advantages and additional objects of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description which follows and the accompanying sheets of drawings, in which preferred structural embodiments in- 3,438,323 Patented Apr. 15, 1969 0n the drawings FIGURE l isa fragmentary side elevational view of an endorser constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention with some parts removed and others cutaway in order to show the relative disposition of certain parts and salient features thereof;

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along line II-II of FIGURE l; l

FIGURE 3 is a vertical elevational view of portions of the die roller operating mechanism taken along line III- III of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view of a fast-acting latch assembly utilized in replacement of die rollers taken along line IV--IV of 'FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an elevational view of a biasing member of the die roller operating mechanism taken along line V-V of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic wiring diagram Aof a time delay and operating control circuit of the present invention; and

FIGURE 7 is a -graphical representation showing the sequence of operation of the circuit shown in FIGURE 6.

As shown on the drawings Referring to the general arrangement shown in FIG- URE 1 of an endorser constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and identilied generally at reference numeral 10, a housing or frame 11 houses a die roller 12 rotatably mounted on a shaft 13 for transferring indicia such as an endorsement or other information or notation to documents such as checks or the like instruments as the documents pass through the endorser successively in moving along a given path of travel. The endorser 10 is a high speed unit capable of endorsing or otherwise marking a large number of documents in a short period of time.

The documents are supplied to the housing 11 by suitable transport means 14 which, in the illustrated embodiment, comprises a pair of supply rollers 16 and 17 and an endless transport belt 18. The documents are fed in rapid succession from the transport means 14 into a throat 19 of a channel 20 which comprises a path of travel of the documents as they move through the housing 11.

The channel 20 is bordered in part `by guide flanges 21 and 22 which guide the documents into a printing couple or nip 23 between the die roller 12 and an impression roller 24, as is exemplified in FIGURE 1 by the location of an illustrative document indicated at reference character D. On the side of the nip 23 opposite the throat or ingress area 19 are guide members 26 and 27 which form in part an egress area from which the endorsed documents are delivered from the housing 11.

The die roller 12 has a pair of diametrically opposite flattened portions 27 and 28 formed thereon, between which are indicia bearing plates or surfaces 29 and 30 which actually transfer the information to the documents as the documents pass through the printing couple 23. Generally both plates 29 and 30 will bear the same markings and only one of the plates will print on each of the documents. Thus the die roller 12 will generally rotate only as each document passes through the printing couple 23.

The leading edges of the documents, in passing through the channel 20 from left to right as viewed in FIGURE 1, can enter the printing couple 23 before the die roller 12 begins rotation as a result of the flattened portions 27 and 28 of the die roller. Thus the transferred information need not necessarily appear at the leading edges of the respective documents but can be spaced rearwardly a selected distance from the leading edges.

The impression roller 24 serves as a backup for the die roller 12 as the documents are being printed, and in order to supply ink or other media to the die roller 12 an inking roll 31 is situated adjacent the die roller and in ink transfer engagement therewith.

As noted, the endorser is of the automatic type and in accordance with the principles of the invention means are provided for controlling the operation or rotation of the die roller 12 in timed sequence with the passage of the documents through the path of travel or channel 20. In order to initiate operation of the die roller 12 a switch is provided to sense the time relation of the leading edges of the documents as they pass successively through the channel 20. In the illustrated embodiment the sensing switch comprises a paddle wheel 32 rotatably mounted on a shaft 33 and having a series of sensing fingers 34 extending from the central portion thereof in angularly spaced relation.

As the documents approach the paddle wheel 32 the fingers 34 are positioned as in FIGURE 1 with one of the lingers indicated at 34 extending downwardly into the channel to be engaged or tripped by the leading edge of the next successive document and turned or rotated to a position represented by the position of the finger identified at 34". Thus, as each document is fed into the housing 11 the paddle lwheel or sensing switch 32 rotates about 1/3 revolution.

The transport system 14 feeds the documents into the housing 11 at a given constant speed, and the operating mechanism of the die roller 12, to be described in detail hereinafter, conforms the peripheral or plate speed of the die roller 12 to the translatory speed of the transport system 14.

It is often necessary or desirable to change the information marked on the documents and, as a result, to replace one die roller bearing given markings with another bearing other markings. As noted, an object of the invention resides in the provision of means facilitating replacement of the die rollers whereby machine `down time during replacement is reduced and the effort required is minimized.

Accordingly, as shown in FIGURE 2, the die roller 12 is mounted on the shaft 13 at a free and unobstructed cantilevered end portion 36 thereof, and the shaft is journalled for rotation in bearing members 37 and 39 situated entirely at an opposite end portion 40 thereof.

Because of the relative high pressure of the rollers 12 and 24 at the printing couple 23 and the resultant moment acting upon the cantilevered end 36 of the shaft 13, the bearing members 37-39 are constructed and arranged so as to reduce deflection of the shaft as well as to provide the necessary bearing effect. Thus, bearing members 37 and 39 are anti-friction or roller bearings spaced axially with respect to one another along the end portion 40 of the shaft 13 while bearing member 38 is of the sleeve type and interposed between the roller bearings 37 and 39. As a result of this arrangement the shaft 13 is in effect rigidified and deflection thereof is minimized.

The die roller 12 is of a generally cylindrical configuration and has formed therein extending centrally axially thereof a bore 41 which houses a sleeve 42. The die roller 12 is mounted on the end portion 36 of the shaft in telescopic relation over an outboard end 43 thereof. In order to lock the die roller 12 to the shaft 13 for corotation therewith a plurality of axially extending locking lugs 44 are formed on a radial wall 46 of the die roller 12 and are received in a corresponding plurality of locking recesses 47 formed in a roller locking collar 48 fixedly secured to the shaft 13.

The inside diameter of the roller sleeve 42 is oversized with respect to the outside diameter of the end portion 36 of the shaft 13 merely sutliciently to provide a good sliding relationship therebetween. In order to lock the die roller 12 on the shaft 13 with respect to axial movement, a fast-acting latch assembly 49 is mounted on the end 43 of the shaft, which assembly is characterized as comprising a latch lever arm 50 mounted for pivotal movement on a pin 51.

In order to afford movement of the lever arm 49 an axially extending recess 52 is formed in the end 43 of the shaft 13 and the lever arm 49 resides substantially therein. A projection 53 extends from the lever arm to facilitate pivotal movement thereof merely by finger pressure of the operator. In order to prevent axial movement of the die roller 12 the lever arm 49 has formed at the inboard end thereof an abutment shoulder 54 which, in the locked position of the lever arm 50 shown in FIGURE 2, abuts an end 56 of the die roller sleeve 42. It will be noted that the sleeve end 56 is situated inboardly of an outer end 57 of the die roller 12, and pivotal movement of the lever arm 50 within the end 56 is accommodated by the space between the shaft 12 and an inner wall 5S of the die roller end 57.

When a die roller is being inserted on the shaft 13 the lever arm 50 is pivoted into general alignment with the shaft, and in such aligned position the overall transverse dimension of the lever arm 50 is less than the inside diameter of the die roller sleeve 42. After the die roller has been slipped completely onto the shaft 13 and the lugs 44 have been inserted into the recesses 47, the lever arm 50 is pivoted to the locked position thereof shown in FIGURE 2, and in order to maintain the lever arm in this locked position during operation of the endorser 10 the abutment wall 54 thereof has formed therein a notch 59 for receiving a complementarily tapered end 60 of a locking pin 61. The pin 61 is housed in a bore 62 formed in the shaft 13 and is biased in the direction of the lever arm shoulder 54 by means of a spring 63.

Accordingly, when the lever arm 50 is moved to its locked position its movement thereafter is impeded by the pin 61, but it will be appreciated that only finger pressure is required to unlock and pivot the arm 50 in replacing the die roller 12.

In order to rotate the die roller 12 in timed sequence with the passage of the documents through the printing couple 23, a die roller operating mechanism indicated generally at 64 is situated at the end portion 40 of the shaft 13 and comprises a friction clutch assembly 66 and a clutch actuator 67. The clutch assembly includes a drive gear 68 mounted on the shaft 13 and freely rotatable with respect thereto. The drive gear 68 is continuously driven at a constant speed by means of a gear 69 (FIGURE 3) which is, .in turn, driven by suitable means such as, for example, electric motor means.

Situated on the shaft 13 adjacent drive gear 68 is an indexing sleeve 70 which is locked to the shaft for corotation therewith by means of a locking pin 71. A radial side |wall 72 of the drive gear 68 is urged into abutting frictional engagement with a complemental radial wall 73 of the indexing vsleeve 70 by means of a biasing member 74 mounted on the shaft 13 outboard of the drive gear 68 and separated therefrom by a collar 76 frictionally engaging the drive gear 68 at a face 75 and freely axially slidable on the shaft 13 and adapted for corotation therewith by the liat 85.

Thus, the drive gear 68 constantly tends to rotate the indexing sleeve 70 along with the shaft 13 and the die roller 12. The indexing sleeve 70, which is corotatably locked to the shaft 13, has formed thereon a pair of diametrically opposite radial shoulders or abutment surfaces 77 and 78, and mounted on the housing 11 for cooperation with these shoulders is a die latch lever arm 79 of the actuator 64. The arm 79 is mounted for pivotal movement on a fixed shaft 80 and formed at one end 81 thereof is an inturned flange 82 engageable with shoulders 77 and 78 in a given angular position of the indexing sleeve 70 as shown, for example, in FIGURE 3.

As a result, the arm 79 is -rockable and connected thereto in order to provide such rocking motion lis a solenoid 83 including a reciprocally movable operating rod 84 connected to the arm 79 through a pin and groove 86 and 87 respectively.

When the solenoid 83 is de-energized a biasing member in the form of a torsion spring, which is mounted on the housing 11, urges the tiange 82 of the arm 79 into abutting engagement with one of the shoulders 77 and 78 of the indexing sleeve 70, thereby preventing rotation of the sleeve, which is continuously urged into counterclockwise rotation as viewed in FIGURE 3 by the rotation of the drive gear 68. Upon momentary energization of the solenoid 83, however, the arm 79 is rocked to immediately move the liange 82 out of engagement iwith the abutting shoulder of the indexing sleeve 70, whereupon the sleeve immediately rotates with the drive gear 68 for one half revolution, that is, until the iiange 82 abuts the opposite shoulder of the indexing sleeve.

In accordance with the principles of the invention the solenoid 83 is momentarily energized or pulsed in timed relation to the passage of the documents successively through the path of travel or channel 20. As will be described more fully hereinafter, as the leading edge of a document a'buts that finger 34 of the paddle wheel or sensing switch 32 which extends downwardly into the path of travel an electric circuit means is actuated which, by incorporating a time delay system, causes a pulsation of the solenoid 83 to enable the die roller 12 to rotate a given and selectively variable time period after the engagement of such downwardly extending linger of the paddle wheel 32. The period of delay is, of course, desirably a function of the speed of the document as determined by the speed of the transport system 14, and also a function of the desired location of the printed matter on the document with respect to the leading edge thereof.

More specifically, the electric circuit means, which is identified generally in FIGURE 6 at reference numeral 100, is designed to apply a fixed width pulse to the solenoid 83 within a given time after a pair of contacts are closed. The input power is delivered to the circuit 100 through terminals 101 and 102 and a switch 103 which is the On-Off switch of the endorser 10.

Initially, a pair of silicon controlled rectifiers 105 and 106 are in the Off, or non-conducting state, and also a unijunction transistor 107 is in the normal condition. A document passing through the path of travel or channel 20 will close the contacts of switch 32, which is the paddle wheel switch, as indicated by reference numeral 109'. This applies the voltage across a capacitor 110 to the gate of the silicon controlled rectifier 105, turning it On, thereby `applying voltage to the R-C timing network consisting of a resistor 112, a variable resistor 1-13 and a capacitor 114.

Capacitor 114 charges at a rate determined by the resistor 112 and the variable potentiometer 113. When capacitor 114 reaches the required emitter breakover voltage of the unijunction transistor 107, the emitter of silicon controlled rectifier 106 conducts to apply a pulse to the gate of the silicon controlled rectifier 106 to render it conductive. T-he silicon controlled rectifier 106 applies power to the solenoid 83 which releases the clutch 66 to rotate the die roller 12. A few milliseconds after the die roller shaft begins to rotate, by way of example, 20 milliseconds, a cam 99 on the die [roller shaft 13 actuates a snap action switch (not shown), thereby opening a contact 117 to stop the current delivered to the solenoid 83, and the silicon cont-rolled rectiiiers 10S and 106. This action will reset both silicon controlled rectiiicrs 10S and 106 to the non-conducting state. Contacts 118, 118 close momentarily, discharging the capacitor 114 to ensure lacourate operation of the timing circuit 100 from cycle to cycle.

Resistors 123, 124 prevent capacitor 110 from recharging until switch 109 has opened, so that if a long document keeps switch 109 closed longer than one complete endorsing cycle, a new cycle may not -be initiated upon the same long document.

EIGURE 7 is a graphical representation showing the varlous sequences which occur during the operation of the time delay circuit shown in FIGURE 6. The pulses generated by the switch 109 is represented by a curve 120, while the pulse generated by the silicon controlled rectifer 105 is represented by a curve 121. Another cunve 122 represents the voltage drop across 'the silicon `controlled rectifier 106, which is initially in the non-conducting state.

When the time delay circuit of FIGURE 6 is initially energized by a document closing the switch 109 the pulse 120 is generated. This pulse 120 is sutiiciently long to ensure energization of the silicon controlled rectifier 105. The pulse 121 indicates the time the silicon controlled rectifier is energized.

After a predetermined time interval, as determined by the R-C timing circuit of resistor 112, potentiometer 113 and capacitor 114, the silicon controlled rectifier 106 is rendered conductive. This action is indicated by the pulse 122 at the point 25 on the time scale. The silicon controlled rectifier is maintained conductive to point 70 0n the time scale, whereafter it is (le-energized by the camactuated switch with contacts 117 and 118, as mentioned hereinabove. The time interval between the points 70 and 100 on the time scale represents a wait period, thereby indicating the interval between each document being processed.

Although minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in the art, it should be understood that We wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably come within the scope of our contribution to the art.

We claim as our invention:

1. In `an endorser for documents and similar articles,

means forming a path of travel for the documents,

means for transporting the documents successively along said path of travel at a given speed,

means including a die roller adjacent one point of said path of travel and a drive shaft rotatably mounting said die roller for transferring indicia from the die roller to the documents as the documents pass the die roller, and

means for alternately rotating said shaft and said die roller at a speed conforming to said given speed and braking said shaft and said roller in timed sequence comprising a drive gear carried on said shaft for relative rotation therewith,

means for driving said gear at a constant speed conforming to said given speed,

an indexing sleeve mounted corotatably on said shaft next to said drive gear,

said gear and said sleeve having mating frictional surfaces engaging one another' whereby said gear tends to rotate said sleeve at said given speed,

an abutment surface formed on said sleeve extending axially of said shaft,

va pivotally mounted lever arm having a cooperating abutment surface formed thereon movable from a first position whereby said abutment surface is engaged to brake said sleeve to a second position whereby said abutment. surface is disengaged to release said sleeve to rotate with said gear,

a solenoid connected to said lever yarm and operable to move said abutment surface thereof between said'iirst and second positions, electric circuit means including,

first switch means connected to said solenoid and situated ahead of said die roller with respect to said path of travel,

said first switch means being responsive to the position of the leading edge of the document as it passes along said path of travel to generate a signal for controlling the operation of said solenoid, time delay means operatively connected between said rst switch means and said solenoid for delaying said signal from said first switch means to said solenoid for a given period of time after it is generated, a cam surface on said drive shaft, and second switch means cooperating with said cam surface for further -controlling said solenoid to move said lever arm to said first position before the trailing edge of said document passes said rst switch means. 2. In an endorser for documents and similar articles, means forming a path of travel for the documents, means for transporting the documents successively along said path of travel at a given speed, a die roller for transferring indicia to the documents, said die roller having a cylindrical shaped bore formed therein axially thereof and extending therethrough adjacent one point of said path of travel, means for mounting the die roller to facilitate replacement thereof with another to change the indicia transferred comprising;

a die roller mounting shaft, bearing means journaling said shaft only at one end portion thereof, said other end portion of said shaft being outboard of said bearing means and cantilevered and shaped complementarily to the bore of the die roller to slidingly receive and to provide the sole support for said die roller, means for alternately rotating said shaft `and said die roller at a speed conforming to said given speed and for braking said shaft and said roller in timed sequence comprising,

a drive gear carried on said shaft for relative rotation therewith, means for driving said gear at a constant speed conforming to said given speed, an indexing sleeve mounted corotatably on said shaft next to said drive gear, said gear and said sleeve having mating frictional surfaces engaging one another whereby said gear tends to rotate said sleeve at said given speed, an abutment surface formed on said sleeve extending axially of said shaft, la pivotably mounted lever arm having a cooperating abutment surface formed thereon movable from a first position whereby said abutment surface is engaged to brake said sleeve to a second position whereby said abutment surface is disengaged to release said sleeve to rotate with said gear,

a solenoid connected to said lever arm and operable to move said abutment surface thereof between said first and second positions,

electric circuit means including,

switch means connected to said solenoid and situated ahead of said die roller with respect to said path of travel,

said switch means being responsive to the position of the leading edge of the document as it passes along said path of travel to generate a signal for controlling the operation of said solenoid,

time delay means operatively connected between said switch means and said solenoid for delaying the signal from said switch means to said solenoid for a given period of time after it is generated,

fast-acting latch means mounted on the outboard end of said other end of said shaft for cooperating with a shoulder formed on the die roller for releasably maintaining the die roller on said shaft,

said latch means having a lever arm pivotably mounted on said shaft and movable from a first position whereby the transverse dimension of said lever arm is no greater than the diameter of said other end of said shaft to permit the die roller to be slipped over the lever arm during mounting or refmoval of the die roller,

to a second position whereby the transverse dimension of said lever arm is greater than the diameter of said other end portion of said shaft to prevent the die roller from sliding off the shaft, and

means biasing said lever 'arm to said second position thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 869,783 10/1907 Jahn 101-236 1,556,218 10/1925 Hansen 101-236 2,743,671 5/1956 Weber et al. 101-235 2,889,767 6/1959 Hirschey et al. lOl-35 3,092,019 6/1963 Van Buskirk 101-235 XR 3,335,661 8/1967 M-oschetti et al. 101-235 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,041,086 10/1953 France.

ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

J. R. FISHER, Assistant Examiner. 

